PERHAPS this morning is the time to remind Reds fans of a few words penned by Tony Cascarino.

PERHAPS this morning is the time to remind Reds fans of a few words penned by Tony Cascarino.

Cascarino used yesterday's column in The Times to extol the virtues of Rafael Benitez's Liverpool.

The crux of a couple of hundred words worth of glowing praise were: "I played 88 times for Ireland, but I always knew that I was technically not good enough to be a Liverpool player.

"But I saw Liverpool last October at Portsmouth and I was shocked . . . Houllier signed good athletes, but technically some were not able enough. Rafael Benitez is putting this right."

If Liverpool's technique is dramatically improved already on last season - and few would argue otherwise - the new arrivals still have a little to learn about the pace and intensity of a Manchester United-Liverpool fixture.

United won last night's match because they started - and ended it --with the greater aggression, purpose and snap.

United enjoyed a first-half purple patch when Cristiano Ronaldo looked close to a modern-day George Best --but they largely pressed, hustled and on occasions kicked Liverpool out of their stride, and they were helped by the predictably lenient Graham Poll.

In Rio Ferdinand's much heralded return to action, he clattered Luis Garcia from behind, but escaped a booking purely because he was Rio Ferdinand making his comeback. Other challenges were similarly leniently received. Not that United were dirty.

They simply produced the passion and the fire you would expect from this fixture - an intensity which maybe surprised Cisse, Garcia and co.

It was only when Dietmar Hamann started throwing his weight around and Xabi Alonso came to grips with the pace of the occasion, that Liverpool finally exerted a modicum of control.

The performance of that midfield duo offered the only crumb of comfort that Steven Gerrard's absence could be overcome.

But there was little doubt that overall United deserved their victory.

Back to Cascarino. "Even if Liverpool lose, I anticipate a power shift back to Merseyside, as it was in the 1980s. Liverpool are moving forward."